Chapter 4 Flashcards
kWhat does the developement of a theory require ?
Understanding of Selected scholarly terms
definitions
assumptions
These allow for scholarly review and analysis to occur
What are theory components identified by Hage ?
- Concepts and Definition
- Relational statements
- Linkages and Ordering
How can theories be used ?
Theories can be used as a series of non-variable discrete concepts and subconcepts to build typologies
Typologies are systemic arrangements of concepts within a given category
Example: typology on marital status could be partitioned into marital statuses in which a population is classified as married, divorced, widowed, or single. These discrete categories could be partitioned further to permit the classification of an additional variable in this typology. A typology of marital status and sex
Define Concepts and Definitions ?
Concepts and Definition
concepts are the building blocks of theory - they classify the phenomena of interest
Concepts may be abstract or concrete
Abstract concepts are mentally constructed independent of a specific time or place, whereas concrete concepts are directly experienced and relate to a particular time or place
A Continous Concept allows the classification of dimensions of a phenomenon (example: degree of marital conflict)
therefore concepts allow for the description and classification of a phenomena
it is important for concepts to be clearly defined in order to reduce ambiguity of a given concept
Define relational statements ?
Relational statements
may state definitions or relations between concepts
they propose relationships between and among two or more concepts
connections between variables may be preseted as one influencing another variable
this would be an independent(antecedent) and dependent (consequent) variable
when looking at the example of the approval of the nurse to a patients self care behaviour & the patients self care activity efforts - this is linking a antecedent & consequent variable - A suffiecient conditon is one variable results ina another varibale occuring - this statement asserts that the nurses approval is suffiecient for the occurrence of the patients self care activities - however a patients self care activity can be dependent on other activities as well - a necessary condition is one variable is required for the occurence of another variable (If patients are motivated to get well (wellness motivation), then they adhere to their prescribed treatment regimen - The wellness motivation is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the occurrence of this consequent - The term if is generally used to introduce a sufficient condition, whereas only if and if . . . then are used to introduce necessary conditions - it is possible for a statement to have both conditions - the term if and only if is used to imply that conditions are both necessary and
sufficient for one another - In this case (1) the consequent never occurs in the absence of the antecedent and (2) the consequent always occurs when the antecedent occurs
Define Linkages and Ordering ?
Developement of theoretical linkages gives an explanation of why the varibales are connected in a certain manner
Operational linkages provide the testability to assertions
It is the operational linkages that contribute a perspective for understanding the nature of the
relationship between concepts, to know whether the relationship between the concepts is negative or positive, linear, or curvilinear.
When looking at the example of the study done with the financial incentive in order to promote health behaviours such as exercise - the operational linkage in this example is the two self reported definitions of exercise that were used to compare participants and non participants - the operational definition that was used in this example was the number of self reported exercise days - there was a positive relationship that existed between concepts of motivation and exercise - the hypothesis for there study was that if individuals were given financial motivation then exercise would occur
Reynolds stated that concluded that the set-of-laws approach provides for classification of phenomena or prediction of relationships between selected variables, but it does not lead to further understanding or advance science, because it is based on what is already known - Each sattement or law is considered to be independent therefore each statement must be tested
The Organization of theory is an interrelated, logical system -
What does a complete theory require ?
a theory consists of explicit definitions, a set of, a set of existence statements, and a set of relationship statements arranged in hierarchical order
The concepts may include abstract, intermediate,and concrete concepts. The set-of existence statements describe situations in which the theory is applicable.
Statements that delineate the boundaries describe the scope of the theory
Relational statements consist of axioms and propositions. Abstract theoretical statements, or axioms, are at the top of the hierarchy of relational statements.
The other propositions are developed through logical deduction from the axioms or from research findings in the literature
This results in a highly interrelated, explanatory system.
What is the Casual Process form of theory development ?
is the theoretical statements that specify causal mechanisms between independent and dependent variables
This form of theory organization consists of a set of concepts, a set of definitions, a set of existence statements, and a set of theoretical statements specifying a causal process
the causal process form of theory provides for testing an explanation of the process of how events happen. This is a highly advanced form of theory development that builds successively on previous research findings in the researchers’ area of research with
extensive theory building and testing over time
What is Middle Range Theory ?
Middle-range theory is pragmatic at the practice level and contains specific aspects about the practice situation as follows:
• The situation or health condition involved
• Client population or age group
• Location or area of practice (such as community)
• Action of the nurse or the intervention
It is these specifics that make middle-range theory so applicable to nursing practice
Lenz identified the following six approaches for devising middle-range theories:
1. Inductive approach through research
2. Deductive approach from grand nursing theories
3. Integration of nursing and nonnursing theories
4. Derivative (retroductive) approach from nonnursing theories
5. Theories devised from guidelines for clinical practice
6. Synthesis approach from research findings
The nursing literature abounds with a range
What are the contemporary issues in nursing theory developement ?
Fawcett introduced the four metaparadigm comcepts ( person, environment, health and nursing) - this metaparadigm is perspective neutral which means that the concepts reflect nursing but not any particular nursing - this metaparadigm supports the generic nature but with specificity in each concept of the metaparadigm
Theory testing research continues to advance the discipline - Nursing scholars have presented a critieria for evaluatnig theory testing research in nursing - Nursing scholars and practitioners also called for the increased attention to the relationship among theory, research, and practice - Their recommendations include the following:
- Continued development of nursing theories that are relevant to nurses’ specialty practice
- Increased collaboration between scientists and practitioners
- Encouraging nurse researchers to communicate research findings to practitioners
- Increased efforts to relate middle-range theories to nursing paradigms
- Increased emphasis on clinical research
- Increased use of nursing theories for theory based practice and clinical decision making
Within nursing education, some programs use one specific nursing theory to guide their nursing curricula, whereas others use a framework of the four metaparadigm concepts
(person, health, nursing, and environment).
